


More Than Meets The Eye

by FangQueen



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: HP: EWE, Hogwarts Eighth Year, M/M, Minor Angst, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-12
Updated: 2017-01-12
Packaged: 2018-09-17 03:12:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9301505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FangQueen/pseuds/FangQueen
Summary: Over the weeks since they’d returned, he’d been a darting blur through the common room, from the safety of his bed to the grounds outside their spacious cabin and back again, never staying in there long enough for someone to acknowledge his presence.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [Slytherdornet's](http://slytherdornet.tumblr.com/) January 2016 challenge, ["New Beginnings."](http://slytherdornet.tumblr.com/post/155274173615/happy-new-year-everyone-we-are-back-to-kick-off) You can find my original Tumblr post for the challenge [here](https://ohlookagaydraco.tumblr.com/post/155780920848/more-or-read-on-ao3-a-hush-fell-over-the).

A hush fell over the common room.

The door to his private quarters closed with a definitive thud behind him as they all simultaneously turned with widening eyes to see him standing there, clutching a book to his chest, chewing his lower lip as if rethinking his plan. Over the weeks since they’d returned, he’d been a darting blur through the common room, from the safety of his bed to the grounds outside their spacious cabin and back again, never staying in there long enough for someone to acknowledge his presence. They were all cautious of this sudden turn of events, of his gradually shrinking demeanor, withering under their watchful gazes. He looked quite terrified, actually, and like he was seriously regretting putting himself in this position. But then he straightened up, a mere glimpse of the haughty nature of his past flitting over his features, and took up a space on the last unoccupied loveseat to read.

It had been a shock and a half to see him on the platform, that first day in September. When they’d all been invited back to finish out the schooling the majority of them had so desperately missed, it hadn’t ever occurred to Ron that Malfoy would be there, too. He didn’t think...well, that that sort of thing would even be allowed, honestly. He was one among _very few_ Slytherins who had returned, the only one who’d _actually_ been fighting on the opposite side of it all...That took guts, he had to give him that.

They hadn’t had any idea that he was even on the scarlet Express to begin with, till they’d arrived at Hogsmeade Station. He must’ve been hiding out with his comrades in one of the back compartments. But when Ron had hopped off the train, trailing behind the Usual Suspects, the hint of white-blonde in his peripheral had, somehow, caught his attention immediately. Something appeared to have done the same for Malfoy as well, and suddenly they were staring straight into each other’s eyes like deer in headlights.

That customary rush of rage, still leftover from their preteen years and their first few unpleasant meetings, charged through Ron’s veins and made his hands clench into fists at his sides. How dare Malfoy come back here, after all he’d done, after all he and his “comrades” had put them through, put this school through? As everyone else on the platform slowly began to take note of his presence as well, a reactive and harsh insult blurted out of Ron’s mouth before he could stop it. And instead of spitting back, like he always did...Malfoy just looked at him like he simply didn’t have the energy for it. As if he was asking him _why_ , why would he be so hell bent on kicking him when he was clearly already down? Ron had never felt more stupid and childish than in that moment. Embarrassment crashed over him like a tidal wave as Malfoy ducked his head with uncharacteristic shyness and hurried away, past the crowd of onlookers. Ron didn’t rightly know _what_ this was, this feeling in his gut when he turned with the rest to watch him stumble up the mostly desolate path towards the castle beyond--but he knew he’d never felt it while looking at Malfoy before.

They hadn’t seen much of Malfoy in the weeks since, outside of meals and lessons, and even then he was quiet and reserved in a way none of them had ever witnessed before. Since there hadn’t been enough room for them in their typical dormitories, the eighth years had been crammed together in their hastily erected home near the Quidditch pitch, and a significant kind of shift had occurred among its occupants because of it. There was really very little House separation anymore in their now tightknit group. But despite his own housemates having done the same, whether it was out of fear or shame, Malfoy hadn’t yet. Till now.

Hermione was the first to make a move. Ron watched as she abandoned her Potions homework and got to her feet, reconsidered for a moment, then finally steeled herself and crossed to where Malfoy was seated. The others collectively held their breath. At first, the blonde in question appeared startled by her presence, even recoiled after looking up from his book to find her standing suddenly so close beside him. She hesitated again when she recognized his expression. It wasn’t necessarily that he looked _scared_ , but...more like wary? Ron didn’t blame him; he recalled a prior time Hermione had approached him with just as much determination, and that encounter had ended with a good clock to his jaw. And then after everything else that had happened since...She seemed to come to some sort of conclusion about his reaction and turned to stare pointedly at the others until they all, one by one, deemed it polite to return to their respective conversations and activities.

The renewed commotion was almost deafening after the long silence that had preceded it, enough so that Ron couldn’t make out what it was Hermione was now saying to Malfoy, but he guessed at her question by the way she gestured to the book in his hands. Malfoy glanced down at it in confusion before giving his answer. Whatever he’d said appeared to excite the bushy-haired girl. She was smiling and talking in that animated way she did sometimes, and then something altogether strange happened: Malfoy smiled back, then scooted over so that she could join him on his little couch.

Harry was asking after him a moment later, jostling his shoulder, but Ron couldn’t be roused from his rapt observation of the pair across the room long enough to give a response. There it was again, that twisting, flipping sensation in his chest. Malfoy just looked so perfectly happy, seated as he was next to a girl he’d fought with and teased for years, perfectly content to discuss the book he was reading as if that was something they did all the time. His smile lit his face like the North Star. He looked… _radiant_. And that was maddening in itself, because Ron couldn’t for the life of him conceive of why he would equate such a term with someone like that. There was something going on here, something new and exciting, and he’d felt a similar thing rippling throughout the rest of their hodgepodge of a group for the past few weeks, but he couldn’t seem to grasp it himself. He just didn’t know...And yet, when Harry finally gave up on trying to get his attention and rose as well to make his way over, Ron followed, and he greeted Malfoy with a refreshing, genuine smile of his own.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos/comments = <3!
> 
> Come find me on [Tumblr](https://ohlookagaydraco.tumblr.com/) and [LJ](http://fangqueen.livejournal.com/) as well!


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